"Harrison Ford's left leg was broken in an accident. His surgery was successful and he will begin rehab shortly. He's doing well and looks forward to returning to work," his rep said in a statement.

A source close to the production told The Hollywood Reporter that Ford was injured when the door of the Millennium Falcon, Solo's ship from the original franchise, malfunctioned.

Ford is reprising his role as Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode VIIalongside original cast members Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, set 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi.

While the broken leg will keep Ford down for the count for around eight weeks, the production itself should not be too badly delayed.

"The initial day or two after the accident it was hard to move things around but now we have had more time; we can juggle things, bring some scenes forward and push others back," an insider told The Mirror. "There are lots of other actors in the movie so it is not a disaster. We are still confident the film can stay on schedule."

Another source said that Ford is champing at the bit to get back to work already.

"Clearly he won't be able to do any physically demanding scenes and even walking will be a problem," the source told The Daily Express. "But there are certain scenes that can be worked around Harrison's injury."

Star Wars: Episode VII is still scheduled for release in December 2015.